AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Will you get some rest, too?” Holly rose and embraced me.
“At some point,” I evaded telling her that I had no intention of sleeping tonight. As darkness spread around us, a foreboding feeling grew inside me. I kissed her deeply and wiped a stray strand of hair from her face.
“I love you,” she said, kissing me again.
“I love you too,” I replied, not missing the way she surreptitiously gave the other females a once-over. I couldn’t help the feeling that she was asserting a claim over me in front of the others. A notion I didn’t dislike. It stroked my ego that she thought the other females would find me attractive. But I didn’t want to cause her any unnecessary worries either. “You’re my one, my szaria. There will never be another.”
That seemed to pacify her. With a smile, she held me close for another moment. “I will hold you to that.”
“Always,” I swore. “Now, get some rest.”
I slept only lightlythat night; every little noise startled me awake, and each time I looked around, the fire was stoked and I saw another set of males asleep next to it, but never Thor. I suspected he stayed up all night, keeping watch.
The next day, we made more progress than I thought we would, the other women had gained a little of their strength back and kept up for most of the day. The men only got to carry them toward the afternoon. If they were anything like Thor, they relished carrying the women, just like he still loved doing to me.
All day long, I felt as if we were being watched. But no matter how hard I looked around, I never saw anything, not even a shadow.
“Do you feel it, too?” Git, as Brigitte liked to be called, asked.
“As if somebody is watching us? Yes,” I confirmed her own suspicions.
“How much farther?”
I nearly giggled at Git’s impression ofAre we there yet?, but even though it was funny, I couldn’t muster much humor right now.
I gave her my best estimation and we kept talking to make the time go by faster. I filled them in about Thor and his men, the cave, and pretty much everything. In turn, they told me their stories, which were similar to mine. Each one of them had been sucked away by what Git called a tornado. Noelle interestingly used a vacuum cleaner reference as well, and Cara described it as being “beamed up” like inStar Trek. We had all experienced the same thing, yet we each described the sensation differently. What we all agreed on was how we had felt once we got here. Lost, alone, terrified, and most of all, hopeless.
“You need to get some sleep,” I told Thor later when I finally caught him alone by a stream.
“I’ll be alright. I’ll sleep as soon as we get back to the cave.”
I placed the palm of my hand against his face and stroked him lightly. I didn’t like the dark shadows under his eyes. “Just for a couple of hours. You can sleep now, while we set up camp.”
“I’ll be alright,” he replied, taking my hand and kissing each knuckle. “Your concern is soothing enough.”
I shook my head, wishing more than anything for coffee or an energy drink. If anybody had ever needed it, it was this man right here.
“If we keep this pace, we’ll be at the cave tomorrow before midday. That will give me plenty of time to catch up on sleep.”
“At least come and eat something.” I tugged on his hand and pulled him to the fire where Oredeon roasted more meat and a few root vegetables Kharle had dug out.
“That I can do,” Thor said with a smile on his face.
“Listen, I don’t want to alarm you, but I’ve felt as if we were being followed all day, and the other girls said the same,” I warned Thor, unable to keep this information from him.
“I know.” Thor nodded darkly.
His words knotted my stomach. All the women having the same feeling was one thing, but to have it confirmed by him caused even more anxiety in me.
“We’ll be alright,” Thor said, reading my mind. “We’re trained warriors.”
“I know.” I tried for a brave smile, but my stomach somersaulted with fear.
After dinner, he hugged and kissed me, then I went to where I had spread out our furs, dreading another lonely night without his arms around me. Cara was already asleep, but Noelle and Git were talking in hushed voices.
Since they made no effort to include me, I turned my back and closed my eyes, thinking it would take hours before I fell asleep.
I didn’t know how long it took but at some point I must have fallen asleep, because a piercing scream woke me. With a start, I sat up. Cara, Git, and Noelle were huddled together, propped against a tree. In the dark, the whites of their widened, frightened eyes stood out.
